Israel and South Korea to boost collaboration on loitering munitions

SEOUL – Major aerospace companies from Israel and South Korea have agreed to expand their partnership on deadly drone technology.

Israel Aerospace Industries, or IAI, and Korea Aerospace Industries, or KAI, signed a memorandum of understanding on Oct. 20 on a loitering munitions program for maximizing the effectiveness of strike missions against enemy air defenses, according to an IAI statement.

The agreement was made during the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition 2021 (ADEX 2021) running Oct. 19-23 at an airbase in Seongnam, just south of Seoul.

“IAI is proud to continue expanding our collaboration with KAI, and share our combat-proven capabilities in the field of loitering munitions,” Yehuda (Hudi) Lahav, executive vice president of marketing at IAI, said. “IAI is happy to partner with one of Korean’s leading companies, and to continue growing our collaboration with the local defense market and Korean industry leaders.”

KAI’s Chang Heon-han, executive vice president and head of future business division, said: “With the goal of leading the future of unmanned aerial vehicles, we are dedicated to developing next-generation unmanned aerial vehicle technology, and we will develop solutions that meet various customer needs.”

Loitering munitions combine the capabilities of drones and missiles by searching, identifying, attacking, and destroying targets. The new class of weapons system can be used to target especially sensitive and moving targets.

In March the two companies signed an initial agreement to collaborate on loitering munitions with regards to the South Korean Army’s pursuit of manned-unmanned teaming, or MUM-T, systems.

Under the scheme, a KAI-built helicopter would hover at distance while an onboard unmanned aerial vehicle searches for a target and strikes it immediately when necessary.

“The expanded cooperation between IAI and KAI will offer the South Korean military with new technologies, and will establish concrete cooperation plans through joint feasibility studies between the two companies,” the company statement said, referring to the Israeli company’s HARPY NGW and HAROP loitering missile as combat-proven in many nations around the world.

Brian Kim was a South Korea correspondent for Defense News.

首尔——以色列和韩国的主要航空航天公司已同意扩大在致命无人机技术领域的合作。

据以色列航空航天工业公司（IAI）发布的一份声明称，该公司和韩国航空航天工业公司（KAI）于10月20日签署了一份谅解备忘录，内容涉及一项巡飞弹计划，旨在最大限度地提高打击敌方防空系统的打击任务的有效性。

该协议是在2021年10月19日至23日在首尔以南城南空军基地举行的2021年首尔国际航空航天与国防展览会（ADEX 2021）期间达成的。

“IAI很荣幸能继续扩大与KAI的合作，并分享我们在巡飞弹领域久经实战考验的能力，”IAI市场营销执行副总裁耶胡达（胡迪）·拉哈夫表示。“IAI很高兴能与韩国领先企业之一的KAI合作，并继续深化与韩国本土国防市场和行业领军企业的合作。”

KAI执行副总裁兼未来事业部负责人张宪汉表示：“我们以引领无人机未来发展为目标，致力于开发下一代无人机技术，并将开发满足各种客户需求的解决方案。”

巡飞弹结合了无人机和导弹的功能，能够搜索、识别、攻击和摧毁目标。这种新型武器系统可用于打击特别敏感的移动目标。

今年 3 月，两家公司签署了一项初步协议，就韩国陆军正在研发的有人-无人协同作战（MU​​M-T）系统相关的巡飞弹开展合作。

根据该方案，韩国航空航天工业公司（KAI）制造的直升机将在一定距离外悬停，同时机载无人机搜索目标，并在必要时立即进行打击。

“以色列航空工业公司（IAI）与韩国航空工业公司（KAI）扩大合作，将为韩国军方提供新技术，并通过两家公司之间的联合可行性研究，制定具体的合作计划。”该公司声明称，以色列航空工业公司的HARPY NGW和HAROP巡飞导弹已在世界许多国家经过实战检验。

Brian Kim曾是《防务新闻》驻韩国记者。